Yet Another Dining Plan Question... :)

[Tinkerbell_Tiffany]

Ok I am florida resident
we are a family of 4 <2 adults and 2 under 9>
we went to disney in february and got the 3 day play pass for fl residents.
we are planning another trip during the free dining and are wanting use the 3 day play pass to upgrade to a seasonal pass, we are wanting to stay at disney this time around also I am wondering if we are going to even be elidgable for the free dining.
thanks for any help or suggestions you can give me

another thing what are ADR's? reservations?
do I really need to make reservations for each meal each day even counter service?

 

[momandseandodisney]

tinkerbell tiffinay - off topic but were did you find the madagascar penguins and lion to get the pic with them?

ADR - reservations - they can be made 180 days out
I have all mine already for my Sept/Oct 06 trip - but they can not be made for counter service meals

 

[Tinkerbell_Tiffany]

HI!
We had them done at universal studios

 

[kcashner]

ADR is the new term that replaced "Priority Seating." Nothing changed that I can tell except the name. With all the dining plan stuff going on, it is a wise idea to have reservations...otherwise, you might wait a long time. I made ressies at about 45 days out for our upcoming trip and got everything I wanted. Was even able to change 2 of them about 30 days before trip...again, no problem getting place and time desired.

In my understanding, the only plan that doesn't need a ticket purchase to get the dining plan is the DVC. Of course, if you already have tickets (or seasonal pass), you can buy a one day ticket and save it. However, I believe that you cannot get the free dining plan or even pay for the dining plan if you have a FL resident rate on your room. The dining plan can't be added to all packages, only to certain ones.

I would suggest that you call Disney and ask. I suspect that you are not able to get the free dining with a FL res rate and seasonal pass.

 

[bicker]

Free dining is only available for guests who book a hotel/ticket package, paying the rack rate (full price) for the hotel. You must purchase one day's worth of MYW admission, as part of the package. Free dining is capacity-limited, so it may or may not be available (any longer) at any specific resort.

Regarding ADRs: They're typically only available at table service restaurants. There are a few of those that don't take reservations but the vast majority do. As to whether you need them or not, a lot of it depends on where you want to eat, when you want to eat, and how much your satisfaction will be governed by how much say you have regarding where and when you eat, versus being told by the reservations agent where and when you're going to be eating. I firmly believe that you can almost always get a reservation, somewhere in the 44 square miles of WDW, at the last minute: However, it may mean that you'll find yourself in the Magic Kingdom at 5PM being told that you'll be having dinner that night at the Caribbean Beach Resort at 8:30PM (even though you aren't staying at that resort, and don't even like that kind of food!)

We saw this happen to some folks during our recent trip in January, during one of the least crowded times of the year, and during a time when there wasn't a free dining promotion overfilling the restaurants. While I was waiting to check in for our family meal at LTT, there were five parties in queue in front of me, and each one begging the hostess to find room for them because they had checked all other table service restaurants and there was nothing available for the rest of the night at any of them.

So the moral of the story is to make ADRs for every table service meal you plan to eat. You can always try to change them at the last minute, but in case you cannot change them, at least you won't be forced to eat hot dogs for dinner that night.

 

[kcashner]

The other side of the ADR story is that there is always a possibility of being seated without them....but don't count on it.

Last May, DD suddenly decided that she wanted Chef Mickey's. We called, and were told "no way." We went over anyhow (I told her that if it didn't work, we'd eat burgers). There was no line and we were seated in under 5 minutes. However, it was a matter of being lucky with the timing--as we were leaving, the line was quite long.

To be sure to eat where and when you wish, make ADRs.